Authorities deliver significant setback to online fraudsters.
In a massive cross-country effort, police agencies have landed a major victory against online criminals: Numerous servers were confiscated, countless domains were secured. Ten arrest orders were released all over the world. Investigators are celebrating this as their "biggest achievement yet."
Global law enforcement agencies have reportedly secured more than a hundred servers and over a thousand domaining sites targeted for criminal purposes in a multi-country operation against cybercrime. This operation mainly targeted the syndicates responsible for the malware groups "IcedID," "SystemBC," "Bumblebee," "Smokeloader," "Pikabot," and "Trickbot," as announced by Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and Europol. In what they're bragging as "their largest strike against global cybercrime to date," four people were arrested, while German officials are on the lookout for eight more.
Altogether, ten arrest warrants were issued worldwide. The BKA declared a freezing order against a server operator for 69 million euros, and about 70 million euros in cryptocurrency were frozen.
The BKA additionally stated that the six malware families in the focus of the international operation were used by cybercriminals as "starters" to inject targeted computer systems with more malware. The objective of such assaults was, among other things, to pilfer personal info like usernames and passwords - or to lock up the affected machines or networks with ransomware. In assaults involving ransomware, hackers lock up the information of targeted individuals, companies, or institutions and then demand a ransom for the release of the data.
BKA Vice President Martina Link said in a statement, "With the largest worldwide cyber police operation to date, law enforcement agencies have struck a significant blow to the cybercrime scene. The ongoing success relies on actions against infrastructures, perpetrators, and their financial resources." Participants in the operation came from countries like the Netherlands, France, Denmark, Great Britain, Austria, and the United States, along with the European Police Office (Europol) and the European Union's agency for judicial cooperation in criminal matters.
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